Teen Who Fired 2 Shots Near Crowd Gets Jail Term

HAMPTON — A former Hampton High School student who fired a pistol near a crowd outside the school and then was shot by a sheriff's deputy was sentenced Thursday to two months in jail.

Moses Lawson III, 18, was expelled from school following the Jan. 30 incident, which occurred after a basketball game.

He testified Thursday that he fired his gun after several youths in a crowd of about 50 teen-agers threatened to beat him up and one threatened to shoot him. He said he had traded barbs with them outside the school after Warwick High School beat Hampton in the basketball game.

Hampton police detective Edgar A. Browning said he took a statement from Lawson a few hours after the shooting in which Lawson claimed one of the teen-agers said Warwick High School was "No. 1." Lawson said he responded that, no, Hampton High was No. 1. That is when the threats began, he told Browning.

Lawson testified Thursday that he backed out of the crowd, then fired a single shot in the air before running off in a fright. He said he had gotten the gun from his father and had loaded it before leaving home. He said his father did not know he had taken the gun with him.

General District Judge Wilford Taylor Jr. sentenced Lawson to six months in jail for firing a gun in a public place and another six months for brandishing the gun, but he suspended 10 months of the sentence.

A deputy then escorted a tearful Lawson to jail to begin serving the two-month sentence.

Deputy Anthony Green, who shot Lawson in the shoulder and ear after chasing him from the parking lot to the edge of woods, gave a slightly different account of the incident. Green said he and three other deputies were watching a large crowd that had gathered in the parking lot after the game when he saw a fight appear to break out.

He said Lawson then approached from across the parking lot and fired toward the group. Green said he told Lawson to stop and fired at him when it appeared Lawson was about to raise his gun.

He said his first shots did not strike Lawson and that he chased him toward the woods, where the teen stopped and again appeared ready to raise his gun. Green said he fired again, before Lawson could take aim.

"He was in the motion of raising it up and I didn't give him a chance to point it at me," Green told defense attorney Brian D. Lytle.

Lytle said the teen's gunshot was a warning shot. He argued that if Lawson had fired at the crowd, he probably would have struck someone and urged Taylor to find his client not guilty because the shooting was in self-defense.

"He didn't shoot the person," Lytle said. "He didn't attempt to shoot the person. Just because it's a public place doesn't mean a person can't defend himself."

Taylor called the misdemeanor charges extremely serious because they occurred on school property.

"This court is not going to tolerate this type of behavior," he said.

Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Deborah S. Roe said she wanted more jail time for Lawson, but she said Taylor often prefers probation or community service for offenders.

"That's a strong statement for him," she said of the two-month sentence.

Lytle, noting that Lawson had gotten his high school equivalency diploma and wanted to join the Army, had argued against any jail sentence.

"He was shot twice, he was expelled from school," Lytle said. "It seems to me a little heavy-handed to now send him to jail."